


Freezing

by Candy_Kittens



Category: Big Wolf on Campus
Genre: Cold, Cold Weather, Cuddling, Fluff, Freezing, Keeping warm, M/M, Merton is in love with Tommy but is afraid to admit it, Merton needs warmth, Pre-Slash, Sharing Body Heat, Warming Up, and Tommy is in love with Merton but is afraid to admit his feelings also, werewolves run hot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-25
Updated: 2020-08-25
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:22:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26097820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Candy_Kittens/pseuds/Candy_Kittens
Summary: Merton is freezing in the lair. Luckily Tommy shows up and helps his friend keep warm.
Relationships: Tommy Dawkins & Merton Dingle, Tommy Dawkins/Merton Dingle
Comments: 12
Kudos: 29





	Freezing

**Author's Note:**

> Just a little pre-slash one-shot where Tommy helps Merton stay warm.
> 
> Enjoy!
> 
> _also posted in my Big Wolf on Campus one-shots book on my Wattpad; @-hawkwing_

Merton absolutely hates the cold. He absolutely _hates_ it. However he does probably hate the hotter weather more - his pale complexion does _not_ do well in the boiling heat at all - but he's not needing to worry about the hotter weather now. It's the middle of _winter_ , not the middle of _summer_ , and he hates how cold it is tonight.

It's fucking freezing in Pleasantville tonight, and even with having every blanket that he can find in his room on top of him right now, Merton is freezing. It's times like this - and _only_ times like this - where he momentarily regrets choosing to move into the basement. The heating down here isn't the greatest.

Well… usually it's alright, but tonight is much colder than usual around this time of year. Merton has to wonder if there's any supernatural reasoning for that, or if the winter season in Pleasantville just decided she wants to be a bitch this year.

He rather hopes there's no supernatural reasoning for it. An ice monster that controls weather is something that he doesn't fancy having to deal with. Not that he really does much of the dealing… that's mostly Tommy and Lori's job. They're _much_ better at combat than he'll ever be. He's the brains of the trio, not the muscle.

Honestly, he wishes that he still had his heater down in his room, but unfortunately Becky had come down here and taken it while he was out at the store buying a few things. Now his parents are refusing to let him take it back from her. His parents don't even care that the heater was _his_ to begin with. He bought it with his _own_ money. But they don't care about that. They don't care about him.

Teeth chattering, he curls in on himself under the blankets, as the outside door to the basement opens up and a fresh wave of cold air comes rushing in.

"Shut the door!" He calls out to whoever is out there, he's too cold to lift the blanket off his head to see who the hell is out there letting all the cold air in. "It's freezing!"

He just hopes it's no creepy monster or whatever that's come to kill him. He's in no mood to try and defend himself from anything like that.

"Merton?"

Hearing Tommy's voice, Merton can relax in his slight worry that it might be something here to kill him. But he still makes no move to remove himself from his pile of blankets.

"Tommy!" Merton says, glad that it's just his best friend - slash the guy he possibly might have a huge crush on - that's turned up. "I'm glad you're here! Though, I don't plan on getting out from under these blankets anytime soon. Much too cold."

He would get up from under all these blankets if it wasn't so cold so he could actually talk to and see Tommy properly, but… he's quite comfortable where he is right now. Well, comfortable but _very_ cold, so he supposes he's not _really_ comfortable.

"You don't have a heater down here?" Tommy asks.

"No." Merton says, feeling the bed dip a little as he guesses Tommy's sat down on it. "I did have one, but Becky stole it and my parents won't let me take it back from her."

"Seriously? She took something of yours, and you're not allowed to take it back?" Tommy asks.

"Well, my parents care more about making Becky happy than they do me." Merton says. He's gotten used to his parents caring more about Becky than they do him. All he is to them is a disappointment. "All I am to them is a disappointment."

_And they'd probably disown me if they ever found out that I like guys._

He doesn't mention that last part out loud, but he had no doubts that it's exactly what'll happen. At least he knows for sure it would be with his father. He doesn't have much of a relationship with his father, and his father has made it clear many times how much a disappointment of a son he is.

"You don't _really_ mean that, do you?" Tommy asks.

Merton doesn't say anything, just lays curled in on himself shivering under a pile of blankets. He's never really confided in Tommy about how neglectful his parents are towards him. But it's not like they're abusive and hit him or anything. It's more like they just don't care about him, and tend to pretend he doesn't exist.

He's never admitted any of it to Tommy as he doesn't want to talk to him about it, and he doesn't want any pity. Besides they've better things to worry about than his parents.

Hearing shuffling from next to him, Merton isn't sure what the hell Tommy is doing, until he's hit with a sharp gust of cold air as Tommy lifts the blankets from him.

"Tommy!" He exclaims, teeth chattering and his whole body shivering as he reaches for the blankets from Tommy to cover himself up again.

But Tommy holds the blankets just out of reach.

"Come on, Tommy!" Merton whines, sitting up on his knees to try and get his blankets back. "Give them back! I'm cold!"

"Not until yo- wait, is that _my_ jersey?" Tommy asks, distracted as he notices the dark orange hoodie that Merton's wearing that's much too big for him.

Merton goes to reply, but stops as he looks down at the too big hoodie he's wearing. It's definitely not one of his own. He doesn't even wear orange. But he had found it on the floor by the couch and just put it on as he couldn't find one of his own until a little while after he had put Tommy's on.

But secretly he might just like wearing Tommy's clothes. Even if it wasn't really intentional. This hoodie of Tommy's certainly is rather comfy. And somehow, wearing it makes him feel safe.

"I uh… maybe?" He says. "I found it on the floor over by the couch. I couldn't find one of my own." He then frowns. "You're not mad that I'm wearing it are you?"

He really hopes that Tommy isn't mad or weirded out by him wearing his hoodie. He'd hate for that to be the case. Tommy's the best friend he's ever had - and the only true friend he's ever had aside from Lori - and he'd hate to make him uncomfortable just cause he's wearing his hoodie….

"N-no, I'm not." Tommy shakes his head. "I don't really care that you're wearing it. I'm just a little surprised." He admits. "But that's not what I want to talk about." He says, wanting to get back into the other thing.

He can take a guess at how Merton's parents treat him. In fact, almost every single time he's around, Merton's parents are rather absent, and take no interest in him. Merton has never needed to confide to him about it for Tommy to be able to tell how neglectful his parents are towards him.

It's never been something that's ever come up in conversation, and Tommy guesses that Merton has just never wanted to talk about it. And Tommy has respected his best friend's wishes in not saying anything about it. Not that he really knows how to bring it up to begin with. But he can't help but worry just how neglectful they are towards him, and he's beginning to think that maybe they _should_ talk about it at some point.

"I don't want to talk about _that_ , Tommy." Merton sighs, shivering as he wraps his arms around himself. "What I want is my damn blankets back."

Sighing, Tommy sits down next to him, wrapping the blankets back around him. He can respect that Merton doesn't want to talk about it right now, but they _should_ probably talk about it at some point.

"Alright." Tommy sighs. "I know you don't want to, but we probably should talk about it eventually."

Merton only nods his head in reply as he wraps the blankets around himself tightly. He doesn't want to have to talk about it at all, but Tommy is probably right in saying they should.

Sighing, he rests his head on Tommy's shoulder, taking himself _and_ Tommy by surprise. He's not sure why he's done this, but he finds himself wanting to be as close as possible to Tommy right now. And Tommy makes no move to push him off, which surprises Merton even more. He would've thought that Tommy would push him off for sure.

Shivering more, Merton wraps the blankets around himself tighter - though they're already wrapped around him pretty tight, so there's not much more tightening he can do. But no matter what he does he's still cold.

"How are you not freezing, Tommy?" Merton asks, realizing that Tommy is just sitting there with no blanket or anything to keep him warm.

Shrugging, Tommy wraps an arm around Merton, or as much as he can when the goth is wrapped in a pile of blankets.

"I'm not really that cold." He says. "I guess I just run hotter ever since becoming a werewolf."

Hearing that, Merton gets an idea, albeit an idea that might be a little uncomfortable for one of them or both…. Well, he wouldn’t mind it too much himself, but he’s not sure how Tommy would feel doing it. But it wouldn’t hurt to ask Tommy if he doesn’t mind a little cuddling to help him warm up. He hopes it won’t anyway….

“Tommy?” He starts, trying to figure out the least awkward way to ask his best guy friend to cuddle with him under the blankets to help him warm up.

Though he has no idea what the least awkward way to ask him is. He doesn’t want to scare him off or make him get the wrong idea. That’s the last thing he wants to happen.

“Yeah?” Tommy asks, watching as Merton grows more nervous by the second. “What is it, bud? You okay?”

“I uh… since you run much hotter as a werewolf an’ all…” Merton says, trying to find the right way to ask. “And I’m freezing my ass off here, do you mind if we uh… you know...”

Tommy looks down at him in confusion, not quite getting what Merton is asking at first through his nervous babbling, until he _does_ get it. Merton wants some help in warming up. He’s trying to ask if he wouldn’t mind helping him out by cuddling for a while.

“Y-you want to _cuddle_?” He asks.

Merton nods. "Yeah." He says. "But _only_ if you're comfortable with it."

He’d hate to scare Tommy off or make him uncomfortable with this request. But, Merton is freezing right now, and all his blankets are doing jack shit at warming him up. And then there’s the fact that Becky stole his heater, so he’s got nothing down here to keep him warm. Except for Tommy. His best friend who he’s had a crush on for years - since way before they even started talking.

Well... Tommy must admit that that doesn’t seem too bad a request. And he’d rather not just sit there and watch Merton shivering.

So he gets up, removing the blanket from Merton, which earns a whimper from the goth. But before Merton can react any further, Tommy is climbing in bed next to him, and pulling him close to him after pulling the blankets over the two of them.

“This doesn’t make you uncomfortable, does it?” Merton asks, instinctively cuddling up as close to Tommy as possible, and already feeling the warmth radiating off the werewolf. “We don’t have to do this if it makes you uncomfortable.”

In truth, now that he’s beginning to warm up, he doesn’t want Tommy to move away from him at all. It feels _much_ nicer than he thought it would to be this close to Tommy. _Especially_ as Tommy wraps his arms around him, pulling him closer to his chest.

But despite their closeness right now, Merton doesn’t actually know if this is comfortable or not for Tommy. He doesn’t know if Tommy is only doing this as a kindness to a friend despite the uncomfortableness he might be feeling, or if he actually enjoys this and is comfortable with it. In all honesty, Merton suspects it’s the former of the two.

Why _would_ Tommy do this any other way other than helping a friend keep warm? As far as Merton knows, Tommy is straight and definitely doesn’t like him in the same way he likes him.

“Nah. I don’t mind this.” Tommy assures him. “In fact, it’s kind of nice.”

Tommy definitely doesn’t mind being this close to Merton, even if it’s not their normal closeness. Honestly, Tommy thinks he rather prefers this amount of closeness with Merton. He can’t explain it, but there’s just something about Merton that screams home to him. He never got anything like that with Stacey or Lori, and something tells him that he’ll never get it with anyone but Merton.

And truthfully, he doesn't think he wants it with anyone but Merton. He's afraid to admit it, but he thinks he might just have feelings for Merton ina way that's so much more than friendship, and he has no idea how to admit it to his best friend, or if he's even ready to....

That admittance makes Merton feel a lot better about this. And somehow, in a way, he can tell that Tommy is telling the truth. Usually with most people he can’t tell if they’re lying to him and just telling him what he wants to hear. But with Tommy… something inside him tells him that he’s telling the truth, and that he _does_ find this nice.

Resting his head on Tommy’s chest, Merton sighs, glad that he’s no longer cold. “Yeah, it is nice.” He agrees. "Thank you, Tommy. I feel a lot better now."

It really is nice, and he feels a lot better ow that he's not freezing his ass off. And in all honesty, he doesn’t want this to stop anytime soon. Nor does he want to ruin it by telling Tommy how he really feels about him. Tonight isn’t the time to tell Tommy that he’s in love with him. That’ll have to wait for another time. Another time where he can find the courage to tell him.

For now, he’s content on staying warm and cuddled up under the blankets in the arms of his best friend.

**Author's Note:**

> This was going to have a bit more where they confess their love for one another, but I decided against adding it. Honestly, I think this works out nicely without including it.


End file.
